Winter Tail
by PFTones3482
Summary: Companion piece to my Secret Life of Candace series. Takes place in the winter. Candace goes outside to build a snowman, but things get a LOT more complicated than she had anticipated. One-Shot. BTW, this is my 25th story! YAY! Happy dance!


**This is a companion piece to my Secret Life of Candace trilogy (soon to be a series). The idea was given to me by Fanatic97. Thanks so much for this!**

**NOTE: This takes place the first winter after she was hit by Doof's –inator. So that means (pay attention) that only Ferb, Isabella, Stacy, Perry and Pinky know she's half mermaid. **

**Hopefully this turns out ok! I don't own Phineas and Ferb.**

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GENERAL POV

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Candace stared out at the snow that was falling in flurries around the house, her mind wandering as she fiddled with the pom-poms on her fluffy boots.

She was bored. Soooooooo boooorrrrrreeeeddddd. Phineas and Ferb were out with their friends at the park, sled riding. At least, that's what she assumed they were doing. Knowing them, they had turned the hill into the world's largest sledding hill, complete with jumps, ice breathing dragons, and other things she didn't want to think about.

And since her parents had gone with them to supervise and Perry was out beating up Dr. Doofenshmirtz, she was home alone.

And bored.

She sighed, flipping over in the seat and staring at the glass of water she had perched on the stand next to her chair.

With a flick of her fingers, the water spiraled into the air, twisting into various shapes that she thought of. She paused as it turned into a snowman.

A snowman. Candace hadn't made a snowman since she was probably ten years old.

The girl sat up swiftly, knocking the water to the floor. Candace winced and picked up the cup, then waved her hand and filled the glass back up with the spilled water. She walked it into the kitchen and dumped the water into the sink, setting the glass on the counter.

Candace stood for a moment in front of the sliding glass doors, trying to remember the best type of snow for building a snowman. Was it the light kind, or the heavy kind?

She shook her head and stalked over to the closet, leaning in and pulling out an extra pair of warm pants and a heavy jacket. She slid the pants on over her leggings, and then wrapped the coat around her body. She leaned over and pulled her gloves from the box on the floor that had dozens of mismatched gloves in it, and then headed for the backyard.

Candace slid open the door and stepped outside, shutting the door behind her. She stood still for a moment, turning her face up towards the gray sky and sticking her tongue out. A flake landed on it and turned to water and that made Candace wonder; could snow turn her into a mermaid?

She shrugged. Even if it could, she would still have to get soaked or covered in snow. And it probably didn't. After all, it was frozen water, and she was able to handle ice just fine at home.

Candace stepped further into the yard, surveying the snow around her. She knelt and picked up some of the snow into her glove, patting it into a ball.

She grinned. Ok, it was definitely the heavy sticky snow that made the best snowmen. Candace got down on her hands and knees and began pushing the little snowball around the backyard, her cheeks growing cold and her smile widening.

Candace hadn't done this for a long time, but it was so much fun! Why didn't she do this every winter?

As she finally got the first ball to the size she wanted, she had to sit back and wipe the sweat off her forehead. While the rolling got more difficult as the snowball got larger, Candace still had to admit that she was enjoying herself.

She set to work on the second snowball, pushing it around places in the yard that she hadn't already covered and staying away from the giant snow pile her father had unintentionally created while using the snow blower.

When Candace finished the second snowball, she stood back for a moment, trying to determine the best way to get it up on the first one. In the end, she just picked it up and managed to shove it onto the first one after a few minutes of panting and pulling.

She cracked her knuckles firmly and started working on the third snowball. She was so hot at this point that the redhead took off her outer jacket, leaving her in only a light sweater over her usual clothing.

After she settled the head of the snowman onto the body, Candace stepped back and glanced around. The yard was covered with tracks where she had been and where the snowballs had been rolled. Her jacket and scarf and hat were all thrown onto the clear walkway.

The empty looking snowman sat in front of her and Candace studied it for a moment. She had heard from Perry that the last time he had built a snowman, it came to life. She didn't want to risk that. So no hat for this guy.

Candace found a few sticks that were in the snow and shoved them into the sides, creating arms.

She knew they had no carrots in the fridge, so instead Candace reached up and snapped a large icicle off of the house and used that instead as a nose.

Candace scoured the ground and found several pebbles, using them to create a face with a smiling mouth.

She placed the leftover pebbles down the middle snowball, creating a sweater look, and then stepped back yet again.

Her hair was soaked from having snowflakes land on it, her pants were soaked through because she had been crawling around in the snow, and her sweater was starting to get wet. Candace knew she should go inside and get warmed up, but the snowman was still missing something.

She pulled her gloves off and rubbed her pruney fingers before sticking the gloves on the ends of the branches.

She sighed and cocked her head. No matter what Perry had said, the snowman just didn't look right with a hat.

Candace retrieved her hat from the pile of stuff she had left on the walkway and tucked it onto the snowman's head. She stepped back and, to her relief, the snowman didn't come to life.

Candace also pulled out her scarf and wrapped it around the neck of the snowman, knowing that it now looked at least ten times better. She stepped back to admire her work with a smile.

It was probably good that she did.

A huge robotic foot came out of nowhere, smashing into the snowman and just barely missing Candace. The shockwave from the robot was so great that Candace was airborne for a moment before she landed, feet first, into that giant pile of snow her dad had blown together.

Candace gasped in shock, cold, and anger as the foot lifted up, carrying her snowman after it. "Aw, come on! I worked on that for an hour and a half!"

She was ready to start ranting when she froze (no pun intended). She gulped as the familiar tingling ran up and down her legs. "Dang it!"

Candace struggled to pull herself out of the snow bank, realizing for the first time how truly soaked she was. It was as if a bucket of water had been dumped all over her.

She knew that if she didn't get inside within a few minutes of growing a tail, she'd probably freeze because of her swimsuit.

Candace groaned as she felt her tail start to form under her, and with one final shove she managed to pull herself out of the snow bank.

She slid down onto the ground, her tail flopping over her head as she struggled to sit up.

Candace huffed a sigh, shoved a strand of sopping wet hair out of her face, and managed to flip so that she was sitting normally.

She looked down at herself, realizing after a moment that she wasn't actually that cold. When she saw herself, her unspoken question was answered.

Her tail, normally bright orange and tapering down to deep red, now had an almost silver tint to it that practically glowed. Rather than her usual bikini top, Candace found that she was now wearing a long sleeved, incredibly warm swimsuit top that resembled her other one. It didn't quite cover her stomach all the way, but it was so warm that it didn't matter.

Candace gave a grin and turned around so that she was facing the house. Using her arms as propellers, she managed to pull herself to the door, expecting her legs to come back at any moment. When they didn't, she was puzzled.

Why on earth couldn't her legs form? Was it too cold? Maybe the snow prohibited it…Candace knew from past experience that in the water she had to be all the way out of it for her to turn back to normal. And since there was snow everywhere, her only chance was to get inside or onto the walkway.

Candace glanced back at the walkway and scowled. The giant robot had displaced enough snow so that now the possibility of turning back to a human outside was impossible.

"Great," Candace muttered, continuing towards the door. When she reached it, she managed to pull her tail under her and grab the door-which had locked behind Candace when she went outside.

Candace groaned and slumped back against the door. She could see her cell phone lying on the table by the door, and her back door key was in her room.

Normally, she would just go in through the front door, but that wasn't an option.

Candace sighed and leaned against a snow pile, her tail flat in front of her. The snow continued piling on until the girl was freezing, her teeth chattering like Perry's.

The swimsuit top only kept her so warm, and her hair was practically freezing to her scalp. Her tail, amazingly, stayed at a relatively warm temperature, but Candace knew it wouldn't matter, what with the snow coming down in impossible amounts.

She considered getting her hat off the snowman, but then remembered that the snowman was rampaging around town on the foot of a giant robot, and the coat that she had tossed onto the ground was probably soaked.

Candace groaned and pulled her tail towards herself, wrapping her arms around it and putting her chin on it like she would her knees.

She knew that until someone came home, she was stuck there. She turned her head so that her cheek was resting on her arm, and that gave her a perfect vantage point as Ferb walked in through the door a few minutes later, shaking off his gloves in annoyance.

Candace lifted her head and grinned, her teeth chattering and her lips probably blue. "Ferb, I've got a problem."

Ferb turned around and raised his head to look at her. A smile tugged at his lips and then his eyes grew wide and he rubbed them.

Candace faltered a little. "Ferb?"

The boy shook his head slowly. "You…you're glowing."

Candace's eyebrows shot up and she glanced down at herself. Her tail was tinged in silver, but as she looked closer she realized that so was her whole body.

"Um…yeah. Look, can you open the door? I locked myself out and my key is inside. And I'm freezing."

Ferb gave her a worried look and pulled out his keys from his coat pocket. He unlocked the door and then slid it open.

The boy stepped over to his sister and wrapped an arm around her waist. Candace put her arm around Ferb's shoulders and let the boy drag her inside.

He let Candace down on the carpet, where she sat shivering until her legs returned. She managed to stand up slowly, her legs wobbling. "That was…interesting," she muttered.

Ferb gave her a look. "Why on earth were you glowing?" he asked in curiosity.

Candace shook her head. "I'm not sure…maybe it was to keep me warm or something?"

Ferb scrunched his eyebrows together and then shrugged. That made sense. As much as anything revolving around Candace made sense.

Candace looked over at her brother, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around her body before curling up in the chair. "So why are you home early?"

Ferb looked up with a thin smile. "Buford uh…well, there was an incident with the snow and Baljeet and I stepped in…"

Candace winced, knowing what he was implying. "Go change, you dummy."

Ferb gave her a grateful smile and darted away, leaving Candace alone in the living room. She leaned her head back against the chair, closing her eyes for a moment.

"_Hey, Candace. How was your day home alone?"_

Candace lifted her head to look at Perry, who was sitting at the foot of the chair. She smirked. "Could have been better. And poor Ferb is working out a very cold snow wedgie. He should really stop getting in Buford's way."

Perry winced, looking towards the stairs in worry. Candace coughed lightly. "So…did Dr. D's scheme have anything to do with a giant robot today?"

Perry nodded. _"Yeah. He wanted to use the robot to steal snowmen around town and make children miserable so that their parents would blame Roger and he'd become-"_

"The ruler of the Tri-State Area," Candace finished, rolling her eyes. "Doesn't he know that democracy doesn't work the way he thinks it does?"

Perry gave her a look. _"He's Doofenshmirtz. By the way, how'd you know about the robot?"_

Candace frowned. "It stole my snowman," she pouted.

Perry snorted and adopted his mindless pet look as Ferb came back down the stairs, wearing a pair of jeans and a warm purple sweater, his usual sneakers on his feet.

"So," he said, flopping to the floor and pulling Perry into his lap, "does that silver glowing mean you can go swimming in frozen lakes and stuff?"

Perry gave Candace a strange look and the girl smothered a giggle. "Most likely. But don't you dare ask me to try it now."

Ferb snorted and the two turned as the front door opened and in walked a….snowman? What in the world?

Candace blinked in confusion, until the snowman rolled its eyes, coughed, and spoke with an Indian accent.

"Would someone _please _explain to Buford that a snowman does not involve an actual man?"

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**Ah, Baljeet. I love giving him the last line, because he can be so humorous. **

**I thought everyone needed to cool down from the heat of summer (in most places). Hence the winter story. **

**Review please!**


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